The first ten days of life are the critical survival period for baby piglets. Accordingly, it is important to protect the piglets from the hazards of the farrowing pen and the mother pig until the piglets each weigh approximately thirteen pounds or are three weeks old. Prior art devices have not answered this specific need.
Most of the prior art devices have concentrated on providing confinement units or cages for weaned pigs in the nursery or post-nursery stage of development. Such devices however, are unsuitable for the needs of the farrowing house. The present invention provides a structure and method which answers the need to protect the baby piglets during the critical growth period while keeping the piglets in close proximity to the mother pig for feeding purposes.